Big Data is the driving force in digital business these days, but without understanding, all that data is just a massive storage cost sink. The key to Big Data is analytics; the process of discovering what data is important and what information can be taken from the data. Data driven businesses rely on analytics to bring their data to life.

To talk about data-driven businesses and analytics, Dave Vellante and George Gilbert, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, invited Mike Gualtieri, principal analyst at Forrester Research, to sit down with them at the PentahoWorld 2015 conference.

The power of analytics

The discussion started off with a question about organizing a data-driven business. Gualtieri replied that under traditional data models, people decided what data was important, then they would choose data that supported their biases. In a true data-driven environment, analytics chooses what data is important, which changes the game.

Gualtieri pointed out that there are several different kinds of analytics, and each one requires its own set of tools and systems. Combining these types of analytics allows businesses to benefit from the real power of analytics. For example, Gualtieri explained that predictive analytics could determine what events are likely to happen, while prescriptive analytics suggest a course of action. “It gives an edge,” Gualtieri said.

A look at Pentaho

Turning toward the conference itself, Gualtieri discussed Pentaho Corp. as a company. He saw Pentaho as an example of open-source innovation, as the company comes from the open-source community. Gualtieri also mentioned how people were often surprised to discover Pentaho offered multiple products for analytics, data processing and visualization. This combination was especially powerful for Pentaho, he felt, because the market was still catching up to the concept of using these technologies together.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of PentahoWorld 2015. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts.

Photo by SiliconANGLE